Breaking 7 Months of Silence

Seven months between posts isn't THAT long, right? ....ok, ok. I'm sorry. But kind of a lot has happened in the last 7 months, so you'll have to forgive me.

For one thing, I am now 31 weeks pregnant. Dan moved back to PA in November and graduated in December. We struggled for a few months to find him a job, and now he's employed by Penn State Hershey Medical Center. In the midst of all of this, Addison is potty training, becoming more independent, and developing the divatude of a full-blown 3 year old. So blogging hasn't been at the forefront of my brain for awhile. However, due to baby-kick-induced insomnia, I am often up well into the wee hours of the night/morning and find myself with ample time to think, reflect, and write.

It occurred to me that although I used to update this blog regularly, it was almost always an update about Dan or a quip about Addison... I don't very often talk about myself (except when nervously trying to make conversation... then I can't seem to talk about anything BUT myself. Must work on this.) In my attempts to continue this blog, I'm going to try to (occasionally, at least) provide some kind of story or insight about myself, maybe to give people a little insight about who I am but mostly to clear some of these things from my mind. That way, when I don't have a Dan-update or Addison-ism to share, I can still write SOMETHING.

I have a rather emotionally heavy post on my mind, but that will be for another time (perhaps even later tonight, after Addison and Dan have both gone to bed.) For now, I'll turn my attention back to everyone's favorite subject of my blogs, Addison.

Addison has been in potty training mode for a couple months now... we officially started on the day Dan started working, but have been pre-training for months. I set up a rather elaborate and enticing rewards system, and on the first day, Addison "went pee-pee" in the potty 11 times (I also gave her large amounts of juice that day, so there were more successes to be had.) Since then, we've had way more successes than accidents, and less than a week ago I recall telling my father-in-law that I couldn't remember the last time Addison wet in her pull-up during the day (we are not night-training yet.)

However, a couple days ago, Addison crashed big time. She had been sick with two illnesses in as many weeks... first a flu bug that caused her to vomit for 7 hours, then a rather nasty bout of croup. She was in recovery from the croup when she apparently decided that the potty was not for her... she had 3 "ackidinks" (her word for accidents) within a few hours. The first I was willing to excuse-- I am not beyond understanding that after almost 3 years of being allowed to go at will, she might occasionally forget what she is supposed to be doing. The second made me angry. Largely due to her attitude at the time... she was whining, yelling, and arguing about everything I asked/told her to do or not to do, and the followed it up by peeing in her pull-up while within 10 feet of her potty. The resulting conversation went something like this:

Addison: Mommy, you ang-er-y?

Me: Yes, Addison, I'm a little ang-er-y. I'm trying not to be, but I really wish you would have pee-peed in the potty. You KNOW better.

Addison: (grinning) nooooo, Mommy... you not ang-er-y! We best friends!

I couldn't help but laugh after that... not only does my daughter know how to manipulate my emotions from time to time, but she was also 100% correct. She IS my best friend, and she KNOWS it. We spend every waking minute together and know each other inside and out. We know how to make each other laugh. We can tell from each other's body language, breathing pattern, and tone of voice what kind of mood the other is in, even if the change is very slight. We tell each other everything. We could cuddle on the couch for an hour and a half watching a movie or spend an hour in separate rooms, each doing our own thing, and still come out of that time feeling connected. I know a lot of people are reading this going "no kidding, you're her MOM" but even though I knew the bond of a mother and a daughter was strong (I have always been very close to my Mom, and continue to be to this day), I don't think I ever really anticipated the deep impact it would have on every aspect of my life.

Serious Moments

(Yesterday, Addison walked into my room after I had pulled out my lamp and fan in order to get into the attic... was done in the attic but hadn't moved the furniture back.)

Addison: (shocked) Mommy, err yite. An' err fan! (your light! and your fan!)

Me: Yeah, I moved them for a minute. I'll put them back.

Addison: (crosses arms over chest, very seriously) Mommy... what happing? (happened)

***

(This morning, as I'm getting her dressed to go to Poppy's house)

Addison: I give Poppy a biiiiiiiiiig hug.

Me: That's good, you should give Poppy big hugs. And kisses, too!

Addison: (somber) Mommy... err dun mits me. (you're going to miss me.)

Me: Yes, I will miss you!

Addison: Err not mits me now!

Me: No, I don't miss you yet, but I will miss you when you leave!

Addison: (somber) Mommy... er dun mits me. A yot. (a lot.)

First Prayer

Addison prayed for the first time last night at dinner.

We were all sitting at the table... Mom, Addison, myself, and Addison's new toy, "Animal" (It's a tarsier, but since she can't say that, she calls it "animal.") We have a usual prayer that we say, "God thank you for ______, in Jesus name, Amen." Simple enough that we hoped she'd eventually learn it. Well, Mom started with "God thank you for these hot dogs, in Jesus name, Amen." I followed with "God thank you for the cheese, in Jesus name, Amen." Then Addison, who usually just pipes up with "Amen" paused, and said "God tank oo fer.... God... tank oo fer animal." She smiled really big, obviously proud of herself, and we praised her efforts probably more than she expected. How cute is she?

Hopefully posting regularly once more

I quit my job. Hurray! I hated that job, hate that I have to go in for 5 more nights, but as of 7:00 a.m., August 9, 2009 I will officially be an ex-employee of Walmart. Could write a book about my experiences there, but would probably get sued by the company. Hmm...

Anyway, my hope is that I can start updating my blog again. I'm also hoping to start working on writing some of my "memoirs" so to speak... not really to be published or with any hope that they would be, just so that someday I'll have a written record of some of my fantastic memories.

Fun words/phrases Addison is saying these days:

"wa-choo tink err dooning?" (what-chu think you're doing?)

"dog hogs" (hot dogs)

"patter-pitter" (caterpillar)

"is for my baby nose. Not err BIG nose!" (regarding her sunglasses)

Potty Rewards

As part of our potty training incentive plan, Addison gets two "cookies" (teddy grahams) when she asks to sit on the potty, regardless of if she does anything, and gets a sticker to adorn her potty when she DOES go potty.  It seems to be working quite well, at least in the evening... during the day she usually seems to forget the potty exists, but when she's downstairs in the evening, she frequently lets us know she's about to "go" and has had several successes in recent days.  The problem with this is, she's an extremely intelligent little girl, and she is learning to work the system.

In the last couple days, I've noticed while we're downstairs that she'll ask for a cookie, and when I say no, she waits a few minutes and then indicates that she'd like to "go potty."  These particular instances usually yield nothing, except that Addison gets what she wants-- "twooooo cookies."  This morning, after we finished taking our shower and while she's still walking around in a pull-up and her bathrobe, she came into my room and proclaimed "POTTYYYYY!!"  I asked her if she needed to go and she said yes, so we walked to the bathroom. 

On our walk to the bathroom, she began her list of demands... "potty, twooooo cookies, twooooooo stick.... (stickers)" in a tone that sounded like a mother giving chores to her child.  I couldn't help but laugh-- she got her two cookies, but as it was a "dry run", she never did get her "stick."

All Done Potty

We've started pre-potty training Addison... this consists of making her take potty breaks to sit on the potty, even though we don't have expectations of her actually producing anything; using pull ups instead of diapers at all times except overnight and nap times; talking about the potty and what it's for; and yes, even taking her into the bathroom with us while we go potty so that she can see it's normal for others to use the potty as well.  Although she's still very insistant that she does NOT need to go potty, she seems to enjoy the novelty of the whole thing, and definitely likes keeping track of everyone else's progress.

Today I took Addison to McDonalds for a mother-daughter lunch time... I enjoy these trips largely because I KNOW she'll actually eat food, even if it's not the healthiest food, which is more than I have any other time (she's exercising her toddlerly right to refuse food at any given time, which she does more often than not.)  I chose the booth closest to the bathroom for no other reason than the fact that it was empty and looked mostly clean; however, this is a mistake I'll never make again.

Every time another customer went into the restroom, Addison would look at me and loudly ask, "POTTY??"  to which I would whisper "yes, he/she is going potty, but we don't have to talk about it."  Nonsense, she must think-- we talk about it all the time at home!  Which is why she then, loudly, would ask the stranger "All done potty?" when they emerged.  Luckily, Addison embarrasses me enough in public that I hardly feel any shame anymore, but this was ridiculous-- they were all laughing it off, but most of them also gave me very strange looks.

I can't even IMAGINE how this is going to escalate once she actually gets a grip on what actually goes on in the bathroom...

Walmart, here I come!

I was hired at Walmart today... I will be working 10pm-7am 5 days a week, doing stocking/inventory... Not sure what all that entails but am just happy to be employed :)